CPS called – Pete Buttigieg says Child Protective Services was called to investigate him and his husband based on an anonymous allegation he described as a politically motivated hoax, drawing a swatting-style comparison and vowing to pursue charges.
A Child Protective Services visit landed on Pete Buttigieg’s doorstep earlier this week—an intrusion he says was fueled by politics, not any real concern for his family.
On Friday, the former Transportation Secretary detailed what happened in a long Substack post. Buttigieg wrote that CPS arrived to investigate him and his husband and to question their children. He said the agency was contacted by an anonymous caller who claimed he was committing crimes against his children and that his children were “still at risk.”.
Buttigieg’s account traces the accusation to a conversation the caller claimed the politician once had years ago. In his post. Buttigieg wrote that the caller said he had spoken to a woman who claimed to have met him at a conference several years ago in Alabama. The woman. Buttigieg said. told the caller that he told her he had committed “unspeakable violent crimes. ” and that the caller believed the children remained in danger.
Buttigieg didn’t treat the call as a routine misunderstanding. He framed it as the ugliest political attack he’s faced. “Many times over the years, I have been denounced, yelled at, protested, threatened, and heckled,” he wrote. “I’ve been through political attacks in office, death threats in public life, and rocket attacks in war. But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began.”.
In his post. Buttigieg compared the situation to “swatting. ” a tactic that has grown as a way to disrupt public figures by forcing an emergency response after a false report. He wrote that the CPS call came days after he posted a Father’s Day picture showing his husband and children celebrating together—prompting him to wonder if that image was the inciting incident.
He remained unsure how much he’d be able to learn about who made the CPS call, but he said he would pursue accountability. “So help me God, if there is any way to press civil or criminal charges over this, we will,” he wrote.
Buttigieg said the incident hasn’t altered his focus. He wrote that the call hadn’t swayed him or the work he is doing, and he returned to his message about politics as he put it. His focus, he said, is to “keep making the case for a better future in our country through a better kind of politics.”
“Everyone knows politics is ugly these days,” Buttigieg wrote. “It’s always been ugly, but now it feels more and more like bloodsport. Cruelty, lies, and even deadly violence have been directed at political figures across the ideological spectrum. Generally everyone agrees this has to stop, even as our country (and public figures) get all too used to it.”.
The fallout also showed up in his schedule. Buttigieg was scheduled to campaign for JoAnna Mendoza in Tucson this weekend, but Tucson.com reported that he canceled his trip.
The episode puts Buttigieg’s private life at the center of a public fight he says was fabricated—an accusation he describes as political mischief, escalating far beyond online heat into something that forced CPS to respond and left him searching for answers about what triggered it.
Pete Buttigieg CPS Child Protective Services politically motivated hoax swatting Substack Father’s Day JoAnna Mendoza Tucson